The Magician's Code - Part One
Recap Continuing from the previous episode, Lily has gone in labor, while Marshall is in Atlantic City with Barney. When Ted and Robin arrive at the apartment to take her to the hospital, she tells them that she can't get admitted unless her contractions are four minutes apart. She then asks Ted and Robin to tell her stories to distract her from the pain. They later take her to the hospital when she is ready. Since Marshall and Barney are both intoxicated and can't drive back to New York, they try to find other ways to get back. Barney vows to take Marshall back if he promises the middle name of his son will be "Wait-for-it" and Marshall agrees. Barney then finds two seats on a senior citizens' bus to New York, but they later realize that the bus is going to Buffalo, not New York City. Marshall begs the driver to take a detour to New York City so that he can get to the hospital, but the driver tells him that he is not allowed to make a stop, unless it is an emergency. However, after Barney gives an impassioned speech in Marshall's defense, a few passengers fake a heart attack, forcing the driver to make a stop and Marshall and Barney finally reach the hospital when Lily is ready to push. While in the waiting room, Ted and Robin make up, and become friends again. Marshall then comes out of the delivery room, telling them that he is a dad. The gang then gathers around the baby and Lily, who tells them that the baby is named Marvin, after Marshall's dad, with his full name being Marvin Wait-for-it Eriksen, fulfilling Barney's conditions for getting Marshall back to New York. Everyone then welcomes Marvin into the world. Continue reading on the next page Continuity *Ted has made a website referring to Lily giving birth (www.lilysinlabor.com), with Lily getting angry about him emailing it to everybody. Lily was previously angry at Marshall for making videos to document events, as noted in the . *Marshall is seen wearing his "Mad at Lily Shirt," with the words: 'Marshall and Steph 4eva'. *Lily does not want her father anywhere near her during medical emergencies. Lily's strained relationship with her father was first revealed in . *Robin's story about being sent to live on a farm by her father after kissing a boy is an expansion of her story in . *Robin says that she has delivered twelve babies, one of which was human. This is a reference to the on-air delivery she did on her show Come On, Get Up New York! in . *The scene where Dr. Sonya says "Lily, if you don't push, I'll shove this baby up your throat and pull it out of your mouth" was already shown in . The scene in that episode showed that Lily was far more sweaty, although it can be attributed to her perspective of the birth. *A sign saying "No Motorcycles On The Casino Floor" was put up at the casino in Atlantic City, because of Barney. This is a similar incident to the one in ; the sign in front of MacLaren's saying: "Absolutely No Boogieboarding." *Barney previously mentioned his distaste of women from Buffalo, New York in . *It is shown that Marshall has smoked his last cigarette in Atlantic City as stated in . *The scene when Marshall becomes drunk in Atlantic City and says "All Hail Beercules" was already shown in . *Robin's excited reaction to the homeless man fighting the cab driver shows her infatuation with fights. This was first shown in . Future References (Contains Spoilers) *The matching jacket to Marshall's 'cursed pants' makes another appearance in Gallery The Magician's Code 4.jpg Daddy.jpg Regular86.jpg The Magician's Code 5.jpg The Magician's Code 6.jpg The Magician's Code 3.jpg The Magician's Code 1.jpg The Magician's Code 2.jpg Lilylabor.jpg TMG-Pt1.jpg For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:The Magician's Code - Part One images. Memorable Quotes Notes and Trivia Goofs and Errors *Robin says she was thirteen when her father caught her kissing a boy, but in she says she was fourteen. *During the scene when Barney is talking to the bus driver you can see the wire of his mic covered behind the ducky tie. *During the story of the Cuban Sandwich Crisis, Robin is show with her Blackberry Touch. However, the events of the story occur when Robin and Ted were dating in 2006, well before that phone was made. * In the "Where Does That Door Go?" story, Barney and Robin make flirtatious gestures, implying that they were a couple. However, both Robin and Lily had different hairstyles at that time. * The Gummy Bears Barney holds up before Marshall comes out to announce that Marvin is born are clearly CVS store-brand gummy bears, which wouldn't be in a vending machine. Allusions and Outside References *Marshall speaks like while being drunk. *Robin claims she spent some private time with at her bedroom. *Marshall imagines an ATM screen as actually showing scenes from the 1986 video game . *Ted reminds Lily of the gang trick-or-treating on Halloween as characters from the but they all dress as John Bender. *Barney tries to pick up women as the . He wonders why he is unable to pick up any women in biker attire and later tries doing it nude, impersonating 's voice. *Bus driver tells Barney to "sit down, watch Cocoon 2 and shut up" - a reference to "Cocoon", the movie that Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) shows to the tenants at elderly home in 1989 movie " ". *Elderly passengers on the bus back to New York stand up one by one and say "I'm having a heart attack" in the same manner that the slaves declared "I'm Spartacus" in the 1960 film " ". *Lily mentions that Marshall wearing his cursed pants as part of a suit looks like a little kid's imaginary friend, an allusion to , movie with as main character, also the chinese store resembles that one from , another movie with Cates. Music *You Were Born - Other Notes *Along with The Magician's Code - Part Two, this marked the first time in the series where two episodes were aired on the same night as part of a season finale. The next time this would happen is in Season 9 when the series finale consisting of two episodes ( and ) would be aired back-to-back. *The chinese note Marshall finds in his pants says 翼商场先生 (direct translation is Wing Mall Mister) or Mr. Ming's Store. *This episode was originally going to be called Tell Me a Story. *This episode is the second of 2 episodes in which the phrase "busting apple bags" is used. The first is in . *In this episode Barney is seen saying 'great news from down the hall' before saying something completely unrelated to the birth as in Last Forever - Part Two. Guests *Chris Elliott - Mickey Aldrin *Vicki Lewis - Dr. Sonya *Caine Sinclair - Joe *Nikki Stanley - Kate *Paul Eliopoulos - Homeless Man *Max Daniels - Cab Driver *Francesca Capaldi - 7-Year-Old Lily *Ken Takemoto - Elderly Chinese Man *Bobby C. King - Security Guard *Mike Grief - Bus Driver *Katie Enright - Nurse *Brenda Ballard - Fran *Elliot Goldwag - Alfred *Vivian Smallwood - Leila *Natalie Padilla - Banana Peel Girl *Scott Workman - Security Guard #2 * Brooke D'Orsay - A girl whom told Barney and Marshall they couldn't get a cab in Atlantic City because of "the big thing" Podcast Featuring Craig Thomas, Chris Harris and Sue Federman. Reception * This episode, along with , was viewed by 8.49 million people. http://www.spoilertv.com/2012/05/ratings-news-15th-may-2012.html * Donna Bowman of the gave the episode a B, stating that much happened in the episode even if there were contradictions along the way while the outcomes of certain events are attempts at misdirection. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-magicians-code,73636/ * 's Michelle Profis stated the episode does not leave anything for the audience to contemplate before the next season but left some emotional moments such as the baby being named after Marshall's father. http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/how-i-met-your-mother-season-7-finale/ * Ethan Alter of gave the episode a C+. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/how-i-met-your-mother/the-magicians-code-part-1.php * Robert Canning of gave the episode 8.5 out of 10. http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/122/1224661p1.html * The St. Petersburg Comic Review gave this episode 7.5 out of 10 stars. "...and Marshall's drunk in Atlantic City. ... of course." References External Links * * * Category:Season 7 Category:Episodes Category:Farhampton